Chocoate Season

It's definitely that time of year. I can feel it in my taste buds and I think about it late at night... It's the time of year where we all need a little more warmth, sweetness, and plain delicious chocolate! I have been eyeing-up the organic pure milk chocolate bars at Whole Foods in a bad way until I found the perfect fix. I bought organic, dark, pure, and fair trade coco powder and I mix it with hot water, almond milk and agave.
It's delicious!

From Tit to Tit.

I just read an article in the Huffingtonpost by John Robbins about female infants growing breasts! The cause: cow milk consumption and cow milk products used in baby formula. So far, it's "not only legal, it's routine in all 50 states" to use bovine growth hormones in dairy cattle that cause infants as young as 4 months to grow breasts! Bovine growth hormone (BGH) is developed by Monsanto a.k.a "The Devil": enough said. So far Canada has banned the use of BGH (Go Canada!), but China and the US routinely use it with their dairy cows. I remember years ago two news reporters for FOX News (don't stop reading, I know it's FOX, but stay with me) wanted to report about the terrible truths of BGH. When their initial report was put through final editing and the lawyers at FOX, it was ripped apart basically for the reason that they did not want a lawsuit with Monsanto. The two reporters were offered large sums of money to keep quiet about what they knew. Read about this story here.
What happened to the news informing the public? I know it's FOX and we can't expect much, but the intentions of these brave reporters went unheard and unseen, and still young infants, children, you, and your neighbor (at least if you live in the US or China) drink gallons of BGH laced milk every day. So on your next visit to the US, pass on the milk, or else, make sure it's organic or certified BGH free. Good news! Starbucks and Ben and Jerry's DO NOT use BGH milk products. mmm... lattes...
I would still promote using soy milk in those lattes though. Just thinking of a hot steaming milky latte leads me to wonder how all those millions of dairy cows are doing and what it would be like to be constantly kept pregnant in a bared cell that I couldn't turn around in, with swollen, red nipples hanging down to the floor.
One last note about the article: Because the cases of infants growing breast tissue are in China, one of my thoughts was that it could be caused by soy products which I've heard cause elevated estrogen levels in femals. But as the article reads, cases similar were reported in Puerto Rico, and when those children there were taken of fresh cow's milk, symptoms regressed.
I really enjoy reading John Robbins articles. He has some books as well: "Diet for a New America", and "The Food Revolution."
I will also take this moment to give a shout out to beautiful Gisele Bundchen for saying that all mothers should breast feed their children for at least 6 months. Whoop!

Plants!

Plants: Eat more, live longer, live better.

Some great quotes by Mark Bittman from his TED Talk, "What's wrong with what we eat."

"Half the people who comprised the Food Pyramid, have ties to agro business."

"There is no way to treat animals well when you're killing 10 Billion a year." (number just in the USA)

"If you strung all together the chickens, cows, pigs, and lams to the moon they would go there and back 5 times... now my math is shaky, but you get the picture" (each year the animals we eat).

"Lets get the number of animals we consume down, and then worry about how we treat them."

"In the 1930's an orange was a common Christmas gift because it came all the way from Florida."

The Book I Can't Wait to Read

I am so fortunate to be enrolled and studying at the Institute of Integrative Nutrition in New York where I listen to lectures by some of the world's best leaders in health and nutrition. I listened to a lecture by T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D. who wrote a book with his son, Thomas M. Campbell II, titled, "The China Study."
The book discusses numerous scientific studies concluding the correlation of a diet high in animal products with disease. It's the most comprehensive book to discuss this correlation with scientific studies that I have found. During the lecture, I was able to see some of the charts from the studies comparing diets from countries around the world to chronic diseases such as breast cancer. The results were astounding.
No matter what your eating beliefs or current diet is, I believe this is a must-read for all! If hearing the words, "no animal products", "vegan", or even, "vegetarian", make you cringe and roll your eyes and think, "I'm not a hippie!", or "I need protein", I would STILL strongly suggest picking up this book and reading it. Why not learn everything you can about what you're eating and fueling yourself with? Why not dive into an amazing book about the science behind nutrition? Why not learn something new? You never know when you'll be stuck in a room full of veggie-munching hippies and need something to talk about!
The charts are easy to understand, and T. Colin Campbell speaks as though he was born to do this, and I'm sure he will write just the same.

"If one opens a book to learn and discover with an open mind and heart, good things will always flow in."

Jamie Oliver TED Talk

Jamie Oliver TED Talk Link

This is a great talk from Jamie Oliver on the scary situation in America (and is spreading around the world- England being right behind the US). I think the real sad part behind all of this is that families after communities have lost their passion for cooking and eating healthy, earth grown foods. It just seems bizarre to me that the people in the position to make decisions based on school meals are failing so terribly that they can call french fries a vegetable!
What if schools taught about food nutrition, banking and how to manage money and how credit cards and debt works, and a variety of physical education way beyond the 30 mins a week required on average for students to graduate.
I love Jamie's vision of teaching just 10 recipes to students and adults... it really doesn't take much to turn things around when it has gone this far.
Happy chewing only happens when we eat earth grown healthy foods made at home.

Just Another Day Shopping

On the weekend I went to an area in Copenhagen I like to call, "China Town". Pictured on the left are the foods I purchased. Whenever I say to anyone where I am going, they slowly nod their head, and if they are danish, usually have a look on their face of confusion that I know more about Copenhagen than they do. But in the infamous China Town of Copenhagen you will find the most interesting food items in the most cramped, old stores, themed Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, Indian, etc. I love going into all the small shops and looking at the food from all around the world. I love the smells, the people, and the extremely small spaces in which to shop in. Many of the shops have small rooms leading into smaller rooms- kind of like a maze in which just around the corner through the dirty clear plastic drapes are rooms with animal carcasses sitting on bloodied white cutting boards ready to be chopped and sold. Shyly and ignorantly coming from Canada where sanitation is on steroids, I pretended not to see and carried on, passing the fish room similar to the room where the dead cow was. Hey, at least they are keeping the animals separate.
I was happy when I found frozen Falafel from Egypt made with the most natural ingredients, and I was even happier that they wrote the ingredients in English. Just as I found my diamond food item in the rough, to my left in the "Canned Food Aisle" as my mom always called it, was a Muslim man praying right there, in the middle of the store. He was so focused and serious. I felt his presence and his devotion, and it was something to be admired. I couldn't help but smile my way to the registrar where after making my purchase was offered a walnut (my favorite!). I chose the biggest one and popped it into my mouth and made my way through the group of Middle Eastern men speaking words I will never come to understand. I was completely out of my element, but felt right at home.

Worth Burning My Tongue On...

What I made for dinner last night:
A "meaty meal" of green lentils, pan fried mushrooms, leeks, zucchini, and celery with thyme and cayenne pepper, lemon juice and lots of garlic wrapped together with cold pickled red beets in home made spelt and flax seed wraps. This was absolutely amazing and so filling! Eating easy and cheap tastes good...

Day One of the Master Cleanse!

Check out the tab at the top of this page to follow my Master Cleanse experience! I made it 10 days without food and only drinking laxative tea, water, and lemonade from fresh lemons, quality maple syrup, and cayenne pepper-- all for cleansing purposes.

Do Vegetarians Really Make Better Lovers?

While I was in Berlin, Germany last year I went to The Erotic Museum. Among everything there (and you can just imagine what was there!) I was most interested in the display of aphrodisiac foods believed to get the blood flowing South of the waistline. There was asparagus, artichokes, honey, pomegranates, and bananas, just to name a few. So it got me thinking about what the top 10 aphrodisiac foods are?
A quick Google search and these seem to be the most commonly agreed upon aphrodisiacs: Avocados, Asparagus, Almonds, Bananas, Honey, Basil, Garlic, Figs, Chocolate, and Oysters. Nine out of ten of these are vegetarian foods. So the next time you see a guy wolfing down a steak and liver pie with french fries and a beer, remember this article! Or, remember that the Erotic Museum is in Berlin.

Here are some interesting things I read about these foods:
Avocados- voluminous like a female, but shaped like a testicle, this fruit is associated with the male sexuality. The Aztecs called the avocado tree the "Ahuacuatl", meaning "testicle tree". Apparently the Spanish found the fruit to be too sexy that Catholic priests ban its use to their parishioners.

Almonds- Fellas, listen up! The aroma of almonds is said to arouse passion in females and almonds were considered the fertility symbol throughout antiquity.

Bananas- According to Islamic myth, Adam and Eve covered themselves with banana leaves, not fig leaves, in the Garden of Eden. Due to bananas minerals and vitamins, they are thought to arouse the male libido. And if you want to send a clever hint that a marriage will soon take place, place a banana at the doorstep.

Basil- Basil promotes circulation and in some parts of Italy is regarded as a love-token.

Chocolate- Need I say more? Enjoy the dark, good quality, and of course, Fair Trade kind to get the chemical, serotonin (the happy hormone), swirling in your brain. But remember, exercise also produces serotonin, so don't go too crazy!

Figs- Ripe figs are wildly sexy, so it's no wonder why they are associated with female sexuality. Lush, pink, soft, and bursting with seeds and sweet fruit, it is said to be Cleopatra's favorite fruit. To the ancient Greeks, figs were considered to be more precious than gold!

In Greece lettuce is considered an anti-aphrodisiac! and that is why traditional Greek salad is served without lettuce.
Not only are these food loaded with vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, but they will get your love life burning with passion! Definitely a very happy chew!

"HOME" Film Link

Check out this beautiful film about our planet! Wait for a rainy Sunday afternoon, make a smoothie, and enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/homeproject